a. Field
This disclosure relates to a connector shield for sensor enabled medical devices.
b. Background
A number of different types of medical positioning systems may be used to aid in the performance of various medical diagnostic and/or therapeutic procedures relating to different parts of the human anatomy, such as, for example, the heart. Among other things, and generally speaking, these systems may provide the ability to determine the position and/or position and orientation (P&O) of one or more sensor enabled medical devices disposed within the body of the patient, such as, for example, catheters and sheaths, for visualization and navigation purposes.
One such type of medical positioning system is a magnetic field-based medical positioning system. Magnetic field-based positioning systems can include one or more magnetic field generators connected to or placed near the patient bed or another component in the operating environment (e.g., a distal end of a sensor enabled medical device). The field generators can be configured to provide controlled, low-strength AC magnetic fields in an area of interest (i.e., an anatomical region) and can be used to determine and track one or more magnetic sensors disposed in or on a sensor enabled medical device disposed within the area of interest. More particularly, each magnetic sensor, which may comprise a magnetic coil, can be configured to detect and generate a respective signal indicative of one or more characteristics of the magnetic field(s). The medical positioning system then processes the generated signals to produce one or more P&O readings associated with the sensors (and thus the sensor enabled medical device). The P&O of the sensor enabled medical device can thereafter be tracked relative to the magnetic field(s).
As briefly described above, medical devices that may be used with such medical positioning systems include elongate medical devices such as catheters and sheaths. These medical devices generally comprise an elongate shaft having a proximal end portion, a distal end portion, and one or more sensors mounted in or on the shaft at or near the distal end portion thereof. As also briefly described above, the sensors of the sensor enabled medical device may comprise magnetic sensors in the form of coils and/or electrodes that are configured to allow the system to determine the position and/or P&O of the sensor, and therefore by extension, the sensor enabled medical device.